Three trials, countless corrupt officers, and years behind bars faced Renee Chignell, after she and her boyfriend, were accused of the murder of 51-year-old British cricket umpire Peter Plumley-Walker in their ramshackle sex dungeon. Renee was adamant Peter’s death had been a tragic accident – but it would take years of jail time, heartbreak, and her own mother going behind bars, to convince anyone she was telling the truth.  Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram ..read more

Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it “all in their head?” The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taberski (9/12, Missing Richard Simmons, Running from Cops) explores other seemingly inexplicable events of the last few years – CIA officers being crippled with nausea and vertig ..read more

How does a “true British gentleman”, complete with love of cricket and handlebar moustache, end up dead at the bottom of a waterfall in New Zealand with his limbs bound and lashes to his buttocks? This is the question that faced police in 1989, when a tourist boat found the body of 51-year-old cricket umpire Peter Plumley-Walker floating at the bottom of Huka Falls. To find out the answers you need to come with us on a journey down under involving a 19-year-old sex worker, her 35-year-old boyfriend, and their budget bondage basement. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortH ..read more

As far as the people of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, knew, Davy Tweed was a sporting hero, dedicated public servant, and good Protestant family man. But his stepdaughter Amanda Brown knew what this public façade masked: a volatile, unstoppable juggernaut of physical and sexual abuse, who made her family’s life a living hell. In a very special episode, we directly hear from Amanda herself – who tells us exactly what it’s like to walk down the street with your abuser, while people shout ‘hero’ at him. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & ..read more

Bleeding from the eyes, foaming at the mouth, and bashing themselves to death against the rocks. That was the fate of six skilled hikers in the Russian mountain range Khamar-Daban – at least according to the single survivor Valentina Utochenko. Yet if the Russian authorities are to be believed, it was just a simple case of hypothermia. With speculation over what happened still rife, this mystery has been chalked up to everything from secret Novichok testing to accidentally ingested magic mushrooms. We know what we think, but you’ll have to listen to find out. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery ..read more

The world’s most infamous nuclear disaster officially killed just thirty-one people, but in reality it’s death toll is incalculable. Raining radioactive debris over a city, and melting the skin off the on-site workers, the explosion and subsequent meltdown at Chernobyl reactor 4 is one of the most devastating man-made accidents in history.  This is the story of how fear, bureaucracy, and lies first brought down a nuclear power station, which then brought down a nation. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us o ..read more

Imagine finding out that your partner of six years – the love of your life, the father of your children – had never existed. That during all of your most intimate moments, they’d been spying on you, taking notes to report back to their superiors. That’s what happened to dozens of innocent British women in 2011, when they uncovered the SDS – a super-secretive unit of London’s Met Police. To infiltrate groups of (mostly harmless) left-wing activists, these officers went undercover, routinely starting long-term sexual relationships with female members, for years at a time. They groomed these wome ..read more

Kidnapping might seem like an odd solution to low levels of education, but for The Democratic People's Republic of Korea it seemed like a perfect plan. Whisk away international intelligentsia to your hermit kingdom and reprogram them to become perfect North Korean citizens, capable of pushing forward your scientific endeavours – or more importantly, directing a cult classic knock-off Godzilla movie.  Unfortunately, it is a plan that hasn’t gone down overly well with the rest of the world. So how did it happen? And is it still going on today? Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free ..read more

Nancy Brophy fills her novels with romantic betrayals and murder. It’s a far cry from her quiet life in the suburbs, where she and her chef husband, Dan, are living out their golden years. But when Dan is shot dead, Nancy finds herself at the center of a murder case that could be ripped from the pages of her novels. From Wondery, this is a story about what happens when the line blurs between fiction and reality.  Listen to Happily Never After: Dan & Nancy on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the ..read more

When Christine Mackinday and her boyfriend were interrupted in bed by her ex-fiancé – a 200-pound ex-MMA fighter who had legally changed his name to War Machine – she had every reason to fear for her life. This is the wild true story of Jonathan Koppenhaver: self-proclaimed “Alpha Male”, failed UFC fighter, wannabe pornstar and reality-show embarrassment – and his inevitable, tragic, violent revenge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ..read more